Common use of Evolution-aware Clause in Contracts

Evolution-aware. Embracing the Long-term Perspective‌ Since we are targeting integrated information and preservation management systems, we are operating in a long-lived context, covering a time perspective of several decades. Even things that are considered relatively stable in the current setting of an information system - such as the type or class of content management system in use - will change over time. For being prepared for sustainable operation it is important to be prepared for such changes. It is one of the core ideas the ForgetIT approach to keep the important information acces- sible and usable even in case of large changes in the setting and context of operation. For incorporating evolution-awareness into our Reference Model, several types of evolu- tion with different impacts on the reference model have to be considered: 1. Changes in conceptual model of the Active System: this could be due, for ex- ample, to changes in the organizational ontology underlying the content structuring as well as processes described in the content. This creates a semantic gap be- tween the archived content (relying on the old implicit or explicit ontology) and the active content (structure by new ontology). This gap has to bridged, at latest when preserved content is brought back into the active environment, in order to enable correct interpretation of the re-activated content; 2. Active system evolution and exchange (Migration): the used Active System might be subject to major changes or might even be completely replaced by another sys- tem, if we look at time frames of several decades. In spite of such changes the content should stay accessible and usable; 3. DPS evolution or exchange: in the same way, the chosen DPS might evolve or could be exchanged over time. This implies the migration of content into a new DPS. In the ideal case this should have as little impact on the Active System as possible; 4. Change in best-practices and technology: formats as well as employed tech- nologies might become obsolete over time. This requires the identification of such changes as well as adequate actions to react to those changes, such as format transformations. The last item in the list above is a classical issue of any DPS. It is, therefore, not covered in too much detail in our Reference Model , since we focus on the things that go beyond current best practices in digital preservation. 3 Preserve-or-Forget Reference Model‌ Following the ForgetIT approach, we are aiming for a smooth transition between active in- formation use in the respective information management system (environment), which we call Active System, and the Digital Preservation System (DPS) (the PoF Framework archi- tecture is discussed in deliverable D8.1 [ForgetIT(2014b)]). Therefore, in the Preserve-or- Forget (PoF) Reference Model we are considering active information use and preservation as part of a joint ecosystem, which stresses the smooth transitions and the synergetic in- teractions rather than the system borders. This also is a core distinction from the OAIS Reference Model [CCSDS(2012)], which is restricted to the DPS. In Section 4, we discuss the mapping of the PoF Reference Model to the ForgetIT ar- chitecture. A possible mapping of this joint ecosystem onto three separate systems, i.e. the Active System (in the form of adapters and/or system extensions), the DPS (typically OAIS based) and the PoF Middleware, which couples both system in a flexible way is de- scribed in next Sections (see Section 4 for the mapping to the PoF architecture, Section 6 for the relationship with OAIS and Section 5 for the extensions of the Active System). In describing the PoF Reference Model, we took inspiration from the way the OAIS Ref- erence Model is structured. In this Section, we describe the functional view of the PoF Reference Model (functional model) and provide some preliminary ideas for the informa- tion model of the PoF Reference Model.

Evolution-aware. Embracing the Long-term Perspective‌ Since we are targeting integrated information and preservation management systems, we are operating in a long-lived context, covering a time perspective of several decades. Even things that are considered relatively stable in the current setting of an information system - such as the type or class of content management system in use - will change over time. For being prepared for sustainable operation it is important to be prepared for such changes. It is one of the core ideas the ForgetIT approach to keep the important information acces- sible and usable even in case of large changes in the setting and context of operation. For incorporating evolution-awareness into our Reference Model, several types of evolu- tion with different impacts on the reference model have to be considered: 1. Changes in conceptual model of the Active System: this could be due, for ex- ample, to changes in the organizational ontology underlying the content structuring as well as processes described in the content. This creates a semantic gap be- tween the archived content (relying on the old implicit or explicit ontology) and the active content (structure by new ontology). This gap has to bridged, at latest when preserved content is brought back into the active environment, in order to enable correct interpretation of the re-activated content; 2. Active system evolution and exchange (Migration): the used Active System might be subject to major changes or might even be completely replaced by another sys- tem, if we look at time frames of several decades. In spite of such changes the content should stay accessible and usable; 3. DPS evolution or exchange: in the same way, the chosen DPS might evolve or could be exchanged over time. This implies the migration of content into a new DPS. In the ideal case this should have as little impact on the Active System as possible; 4. Change in best-practices and technology: formats as well as employed tech- nologies might become obsolete over time. This requires the identification of such changes as well as adequate actions to react to those changes, such as format transformations. The last item in the list above is a classical issue of any DPS. It is, therefore, not covered in too much detail in our Reference Model , since we focus on the things that go beyond current best practices in digital preservation. 3 Preserve-or-Forget Reference Model‌ Following the ForgetIT approach, we are aiming for a smooth transition between active in- formation use in the respective information management system (environment), which we call Active System, and the Digital Preservation System (DPS) (the PoF Framework archi- tecture is discussed in deliverable D8.1 [ForgetIT(2014b)ForgetIT, 2014c]). Therefore, in the Preserve-or- Forget (PoF) Reference Model we are considering active information use and preservation as part of a joint ecosystem, which stresses the smooth transitions and the synergetic in- teractions rather than the system borders. This also is a core distinction from the OAIS Reference Model [CCSDS(2012)CCSDS, 2012], which is restricted to the DPS. In Section 4, we discuss the mapping of the PoF Reference Model to the ForgetIT ar- chitecture. A possible mapping of this joint ecosystem onto three separate systems, i.e. the Active System (in the form of adapters and/or system extensions), the DPS (typically OAIS based) and the PoF Middleware, which couples both system in a flexible way is de- scribed in next Sections (see Section 4 for the mapping to the PoF architecture, Section 6 for the relationship with OAIS and Section 5 for the extensions of the Active System). In describing the PoF Reference Model, we took inspiration from the way the OAIS Ref- erence Model is structured. In this Section, we describe the functional view of the PoF Reference Model (functional model) and provide some preliminary ideas for the informa- tion model of the PoF Reference Model.

Evolution-aware. Embracing the Long-term Perspective‌ Since we are targeting integrated information and preservation management systems, we are operating in a long-lived context, covering a time perspective of several decades. Even things that are considered relatively stable in the current setting of an information system - such as the type or class of content management system in use - will change over timetime [Afrasiabi Rad et al., 2014]. For being prepared for sustainable operation it is important to be prepared for such changes. It is one of the core ideas of the ForgetIT approach to keep the important information acces- sible accessible and usable even in case of large changes in the setting and context of operation. For incorporating evolution-awareness into our Reference Model, several types of evolu- tion evolution with different impacts on the reference model have to be considered: 1. Changes in conceptual model of the Active System: this could be duedue to, for ex- ampleexample, to changes in the organizational ontology underlying the content structuring as well as processes described in the content. This creates a semantic gap be- tween between the archived content (relying on the old implicit or explicit ontology) and the active content (structure by new ontology). This gap has to be bridged, at latest when preserved content is brought back into the active environment, in order to enable correct interpretation of the re-activated content; 2. Active system evolution and exchange (Migration): the used Active System might be subject to major changes or might even be completely replaced by another sys- teman- other system, if we look at time frames of several decades. In spite of such changes the content should stay accessible and usableusable [Afrasiabi Rad et al., 2014]; 3. DPS evolution or exchange: in the same way, the chosen DPS might evolve or could be exchanged over time. This implies the migration of content into a new DPSDPS [▇▇▇▇▇ˇ, 2013]. In the ideal case this should have as little impact on the Active System as possiblepossible [Afrasiabi Rad et al., 2014]; 4. Change in best-practices and technology: formats as well as employed tech- nologies might become obsolete over time. This requires the identification of such changes as well as adequate actions to react to those changes, such as format transformations. The last item in the list above is a classical issue of any DPS. It is, therefore, not covered in too much detail in our Reference Model Model, since we focus on the things that go beyond current best practices in digital preservation. 3 Preserve-or-Forget Reference Model‌ Following the ForgetIT approach, we are aiming for a smooth transition between active in- formation use in the respective information management system (environment), which we call Active System, and the Digital Preservation System (DPS) (the PoF Framework archi- tecture is discussed in deliverable D8.1 [ForgetIT(2014b)]). Therefore, in the Preserve-or- Forget (PoF) Reference Model we are considering active information use and preservation as part of a joint ecosystem, which stresses the smooth transitions and the synergetic in- teractions rather than the system borders. This also is a core distinction from the OAIS Reference Model [CCSDS(2012)], which is restricted to the DPS. In Section 4, we discuss the mapping of the PoF Reference Model to the ForgetIT ar- chitecture. A possible mapping of this joint ecosystem onto three separate systems, i.e. the Active System (in the form of adapters and/or system extensions), the DPS (typically OAIS based) and the PoF Middleware, which couples both system in a flexible way is de- scribed in next Sections (see Section 4 for the mapping to the PoF architecture, Section 6 for the relationship with OAIS and Section 5 for the extensions of the Active System). In describing the PoF Reference Model, we took inspiration from the way the OAIS Ref- erence Model is structured. In this Section, we describe the functional view of the PoF Reference Model (functional model) and provide some preliminary ideas for the informa- tion model of the PoF Reference Model.